ETCG’s Top 5 Pet Peeves About Auto RepairCustomers

[EricTheCarGuy]

I have a feeling this one will spark a lot of discussion. Please keep in mind this is just a response to a viewer request. I don’t sit around thinking about all the things that customers do to bug me, or anyone else for that matter. If not for customers, I’d be out of a job.

That said, there are times when the job can get annoying. Here is my list of things that I feel contribute to that.

Lastly, as for waiters, I realize there often isn’t a choice. As I said in the video, it’s not the waiters so much as the timing that can get annoying. Customers have nothing to do with that. It’s really just part of the job.

Topic

[Jason White]

Good video.

On the wheel locks, I feel you on that. Being at a dealer, I have a master set of wheel locks, but do get aftermarket one’s sometimes. In the independent days it was a headache. You see it has a wheel lock, so you look in the obvious places, after already starting service. If you can’t find it, you tell the SW to call the customer, and of course they don’t want to do that, they ask you to look again. Still can’t find it. They might even come out and look for it. Finally they call the customer that swears it’s in the vehicle, still can’t find it. Then they pull this “you guys were the last one’s to touch it” which you know half the time is BS. This can take up a lot of time, and being on flatrate, that can ruin your day… over a rotation or brake inspection. It can get worse. The wheel lock or key is broken. Some come off easy with my kit, but now customers don’t want to pay for the labor, once again insisting we were the last to touch it. Some don’t come off easy, and well, drilling is going to take a lot of labor, and most of the time they are not easy to drill. In my expereince, wheel locks cause more problems than they solve.

The others have valid points too. Incomplete information is a big problem. Sometimes it’s misleading. I work in a big dealership and communication is a big problem between the technicians to the service writers and I waste so much time going back and forth.

[Ian Williams]

I posted a reply on youtube on this topic , what you say are peeves are all valid points Eric , on the other side of the coin though , some things done by techs, grind my gears not major things but still enough to irritate ,
1- leaving grease marks on my cars leather interior
2- using my car to go and get your lunch ( don’t you have a service vehicle ??)
3-changing the radio station on cars radio
4- damaging something in my car and not telling me
5- abusing my car during a test drive , ( yes GPS tells me what speed the car was last driven at , and where you went )

unfortunately , all these points came from the same dealer some years ago , and is the reason why I don’t deal with a manufacturer whose name starts with F and ends in ord .

[Rereonehundred]

In years of corporate life I’m always surprised how many retail businesses dislike their customers.

But those businesses that really appreciate a “paying customer” generally thrive like mad !!!

[Ian Williams]

[quote=”Rereonehundred” post=181104]In years of corporate life I’m always surprised how many retail businesses dislike their customers.

But those businesses that really appreciate a “paying customer” generally thrive like mad !!![/quote]

I can remember reading an article about a Hotel manager who once said , ” if it weren’t for the customers , this place would be so much better to run “, today it seems that customers are being treated like an hindrance , but thankfully those businesses do not last long , as customers use there feet and there mouths , as word gets out on the places to avoid .

[EricTheCarGuy]

[quote=”Commodore665″ post=181088]I posted a reply on youtube on this topic , what you say are peeves are all valid points Eric , on the other side of the coin though , some things done by techs, grind my gears not major things but still enough to irritate ,
1- leaving grease marks on my cars leather interior
2- using my car to go and get your lunch ( don’t you have a service vehicle ??)
3-changing the radio station on cars radio
4- damaging something in my car and not telling me
5- abusing my car during a test drive , ( yes GPS tells me what speed the car was last driven at , and where you went )

unfortunately , all these points came from the same dealer some years ago , and is the reason why I don’t deal with a manufacturer whose name starts with F and ends in ord .[/quote]

I get it, and thanks for your input. Please don’t see my comments as complaints so much as trying to generate a discussion based on viewer input.

[EricTheCarGuy]

[quote=”Rereonehundred” post=181104]In years of corporate life I’m always surprised how many retail businesses dislike their customers.

But those businesses that really appreciate a “paying customer” generally thrive like mad !!![/quote]

Thanks for your comments. Please understand that my comments were to inspire discussion based on viewer input. If you watch my other ETCG1 videos you’ll see that I’m very pro customer. However, you have to admit that not all people are easy to deal with.

Thanks again.

[Nick]

For me, it’s the ridiculous complaints. Keep in mind I’m a dealer tech.
-“One side of the steering wheel has one more stitch than the other side! I want a new wheel!” The dude really counted….
-There are cracks on my gear selection indicator! (the “cracks” are the gaps between the LCD segments)
Those a just a few. My favorite customers are the ones that show up and make a huge stink about how their car has such a huge problem, threaten CA lemon law, lawsuit etc etc and come to find out, their warranty expired. Then they say “oh, well it’s not that bad after all’. uh huh…

Another is the whole “why do have to pay your tech to diagnose my car when all he does is hook up the computer!?”

Customer pay customers are SO much easier. It’s the warranty whiners that suck. Most of them don’t do so much as a single oil change and have a jiffy lube sticker on their 50k car that I’m sure they probably lease.

[mark lavrack]

Amen. That’s what puts food on the table. The customer is always right no matter what. Why? If a customer leaves your business unsatisfied/angry you presently saved money/ time then avoiding to help the customer. But now you have lost all future monies that you could have made from that customer, plus on the average of ten more customers. Word of mouth( and now commuters makes it worse) is superior to any commercials or any type of advertising. If a business continues to not satisfy their customers, they will force themselves out of business.

[mark lavrack]

Dishonesty is the number one complaint. I had the dealership look at my tire because of a slow air leak. The dealership told me I needed a new tire because a nail was in it. I didn’t believe them so I took it to Walmart to look at it. No nail found, resealed the tire, and have been driving on it for two more years.

Dishonesty- Took my car in to be diagnosed for whining noise, and was told it was a tensioner. Paid the 99.00 service fee took the car home and put the new tensioner in.No resolution to the whining noise. Took it back to the dealership and the mechanic said it was the alternator bearings. Replaced it then noise was resolved.

I have learned through the years, many but not all, mechanics will say something is wrong and you tell them to fix it, then they give you a call, by the way I noticed this was (or recommend) other thing needs to be replaced. The first thing never needed fixing, it was the call later that was the real problem. My advice is when you do find an honest mechanic stick with them. Of course, after many many experiences with dishonest mechanics, I decided to work on them myself. I have gotten valuable information and have learn through Eric the car guy and have saved a lot of money. I still have a lot to learn, but with the help of Eric’s website , combination of other website leads, and Mitchells auto repair I have been able to work on these automobiles. Dishonesty is the reason I started to work on my own cars, and it’s been fun and dirty.

[Author]

Replies